Audio 5:47
Maori expats in danger of becoming economic underclass

Dominique SchwartzUpdated
Sun 4 Nov 2012, 7:30 AM AEDT

If you're a New Zealander, why would you leave the country known as 'Godzone' and settle in Australia? But a record number of Kiwis are crossing the Tasman - particularly Maori. And they've turned Brisbane and the Gold Coast into the third or fourth largest Maori population centre in the world.

Transcript

ELIZABETH JACKSON: If you're a New Zealander, why would you leave the country known as God's Own and settle in Australia?

It's a question our New Zealand correspondent Dominique Schwartz finds herself asking when confronted by the breathtaking beauty of the country's mountains, rivers, and rugged coastline.

But a record number of Kiwis are crossing the Tasman, particularly Maori. And they've turned Brisbane and the Gold Coast into the third and fourth largest Maori population centre in the world.

EXCERPT FROM 'THE GC' TELEVISION PROGRAM: (Sound of Maori welcome) They made an appearance. So I had royalty, royalty this, so it's good. Should have welcomed everyone on. It's awesome.

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: A Maori welcome at the opening of a gym on the Gold Coast is nothing unusual these days. An estimated 40,000 Maori live in the coastal strip running from Brisbane to the New South Wales border.

(Sound of man performing opening ceremony for gym)

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: The gym featured here is owned by Cole Smith, one of the stars of a hit reality TV series in New Zealand called 'The GC'. It follows the lives of a group of young, buffed and beautiful Maori-Australians, known as Mozzies, as they endeavour to live the dream in southern Queensland's coastal playground.

The show has divided audiences at home and frustrated community workers like Vicky Va'a, whose Nerang Community Centre deals with off-screen Maori who face a much harsher reality on the Gold Coast.

(Sound of men performing the Haka)

VICKY VA'A: It's not a reality show when we're talking about them not actually showing reality. So what happens if one of those guys you know, hurts himself in front of a mirror flexing his muscles and can't work for a week.

Where's the episode of him scraping up his money for his rent payment? Will they ever meet the criteria for permanent residency?

You know where's those real conversations about what it actually means to live and stay here and create a future here.

PAUL HAMER: Maori in particular are very disenfranchised in Australia because they have such a low take-up rate of Australian citizenship.

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: Paul Hamer is a migration researcher at Victoria University in Wellington. He says Maori comprise 14 per cent of the population in New Zealand but make up one-quarter of all Kiwis moving to Australia each year.

He says the high rate of Maori migration is due in part to the Global Financial Crisis, which hit Maori harder than other New Zealanders.

Western Australia's mining boom has proved a big drawcard, with the Maori community there almost doubling since 2006.

Family ties also pull Maori across the ditch, as does Australia's generally higher pay and warmer weather.

Paul Hamer says one in every five Maori now lives in Australia but most are without a permanent visa and therefore without any access to social benefits.

PAUL HAMER: To get a permanent visa ideally you have to be under 45 and you have to have a skill that is in particular demand in Australia in that particular time.

If you have a skill that's not on that list and you're say, you're over 45, then it's very unlikely you can become a permanent visa holder in Australia. And therefore probably can't ever become a citizen.

And then if you have children yourself in Australia they won't be Australian citizens at birth. You'll have to live Australia continuously until they are 10 years old for them to be citizens. And if they have disabilities or something like that then they won't receive any support from the Australian Government.

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: And unless they can become citizens, the children of New Zealanders won't qualify for student loans and payments if they want to go on to tertiary study.

PAUL HAMER: And then you get this sort of self perpetuating cycle where many New Zealand-born people can't up-skill and therefore can't become permanent visa holders themselves. To an extent that means they're kind of socially excluded and people are using the term underclass.

I think it's something that Australia needs to think hard about.

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: Vicky Va'a and other community workers on the Gold Coast are dealing with the fallout on a daily basis.

VICKY VA'A: You know it doesn't take much for it to be a disaster here and losing a job means no access to social security here if you are not a permanent resident.

We've got our kids down at Surfers doing anything for a buck. And I mean anything. And that's selling drugs, selling themselves just to top up their mobile phone. It's rife, it's shocking and it's happening here.

DOMINIQUE SCHWARTZ: Vicky Va'a says it's unfair that Australians are treated as permanent residents in New Zealand, yet the same courtesy is not afforded New Zealanders in Australia. But she says the responsibility for the problem and finding a solution rests with both governments.

VICKY VA'A: It's only going to get bigger. We've got kids leaving school at the end of every year in their hundreds and yeah the options aren't changing. So of course that's only going to get bigger.

And nobody wants to take responsibility for us. Neither government. We're in this black hole. New Zealand doesn't want to pay for New Zealanders who aren't living there and I completely get that, but they don't want to support us either by advocating to the Australian Government and using this so-called unique relationship we're supposed to have.